The Washington Times reported this yesterday:

President Bush is poised to change course and announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming, and will lay out principles for what that should include.

"This is an attempt to move the administration and the party closer to the center on global warming. With these steps, it is hoped that the debate over this is over, and it is time to do something," said an administration source close to the White House who is familiar with the planning and who said to expect an announcement this week.

An interesting development, especially given that the President has opposed legislative attempts by Democrats to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The question, then, is why would the Administration push for the Congress to do something about the climate crisis? The answer is in the article:

The administration also is trying to head off what it sees as a regulatory disaster. Environmentalists say greenhouse gases can be regulated under existing rules under the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act, and have filed lawsuits to try to force action. The Bush administration and others want to avoid a web of rules and regulations for businesses.

This makes perfect sense, and is the oft hidden nexus of environmental and private sector interests. International Business and Industry have long been saying that policies on global warming need to be coordinated across jurisdictions, because if not, the regulatory disaster mentioned by the Bush Administration would become a massive hassle and a cost to the private sector. Even on a strictly American level, having differing regulatory regimes in different states is hugely problematic for firms operating trans-continentally.

It's good to see the Administration pushing for regulation on greenhouse gas emissions, and it's great to see them finding common ground between two sides of what need not be such a polarizing debate. If we can get some effective, acceptable legislation through the Congress, we may be able to convince other developing major emitters to sign onto future global deals on warming, which is the ultimate U.S. goal in the United Nations process. It may sound trite, but it's true: global problems require global solutions.

Andrew C. Revkin of the New York Times Dot Earth Blog posted White House Secretary Dana Perino's responses to questions on the Washington Times article, for those who are interested in more background on this story.

Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony revealed the answer my question from last week, namely by choosing not to reveal himself. Hopes for peace in northern Uganda were dashed over the weekend, as Kony opted to stay put in his remote Congolese jungle hideout, instead of venturing to the Sudanese border to sign a long-anticipated peace deal with the Ugandan government. Despite the buildup, Kony's nonappearance was ultimately unsurprising, as his commitment to the bedraggled peace process was always undermined by his powerful antipathy to the prospect of facing ICC prosecution. Nonetheless, this comes as an unfortunate blow to the people of northern Uganda, many of whom, even including Kony's victims, have even been willing to drop ICC jurisdiction in the interest of peace.

While the Ugandan delegation officially remains committed, and cautiously hopeful about, the stalled peace process, the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, has also branded Kony as "not serious." Museveni is likely engaging in a bit of spin, taking advantage of Kony's defection to play up his own image as the one committed to peace, but there is a good deal of truth in his characterization of the rebel leader. The LRA's own top negotiator, David Matsanga, an admitted opponent of Museveni, resigned out of frustration with Kony's tactics, which he described to Voice of America.

"I have decided that I can no longer tolerate the type of tricks that are involved in the LRA by the leadership. When general Joseph Kony tells me that I want to sign this agreement on this date, and then he doesn't turn up. He doesn't even call me to tell me that he is not going to be in such and such a place, so that I can tell the world and other people not to come."

An even more ominous sign coming out of the LRA camp -- and a fate that Matsanga has thus far avoided -- is the killing of nine rebel leaders in an apparent conflict over whether or not to sign the agreement. The idea of suspending ICC indictments becomes increasingly distasteful when a group -- a listed terrorist organization, mind you -- is willing to kill its own members in a debate over peace.

For all intents and purposes, many analysts have argued, the conflicts in Chad, Darfur, and the Central African Republic essentially amount to one regional war. Today, the U.S. Senate officially recognized this interconnectedness, and called on the parties involved to cease all violence, push for peace, and stop supporting rebel groups in one another's territory. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), the sponsor of the bipartisan resolution:

"The conflicts in Chad, the Central African Republic, and Sudan cannot be resolved in a vacuum because they have both domestic and regional implications. A sustainable peace requires good-faith negotiations both within and between the countries with strong monitoring by the international community," Feingold said. "I am pleased the Senate has sent such an important and timely message. The international community cannot ignore the complex cross-border problems that have resulted in great suffering."

While the resolution is largely hortatory, it takes an important step in addressing the chaos spawned by the Darfur genocide holistically, rather than as an insulated humanitarian imperative. Civilians in the region have long been caught in the middle of their governments' political machinations, and ending the practice of interference by proxy will go a long way toward ensuring the security of vulnerable refugees and displaced persons. The international community has a large stake in resolving this situation, and Feingold's resolution rightly calls on countries to support peace efforts and the deployment of multilateral peacekeeping missions.

There's a new pro-Israel, pro-Peace lobby on the block called J-Street. Watch the trailer.

I, for one, would hope to see some new life breathed into the Quartet process, which the Secretary General's former representative to the Middle East admitted was just a "side-show." But so long as rejectionist voices dominate the discourse, the Quartet's job as a negotiation-promoting foursome is made much more difficult. Here's hoping J-Street can inject some much needed sanity, compassion, and rationality into the debate.

Fresh off the presses from the UN News Center:

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the global movement to end violence against women and girls known as V-Day have launched a new partnership to end rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and ensure justice for the victims of this heinous crime.

The new partnership was announced by UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and playwright and V-Day founder Eve Ensler on Saturday during V-Day's tenth anniversary celebrations in the United States city of New Orleans.

"The goal of the campaign, Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource, Power to The Women and Girls of Democratic Republic of Congo is to stop the rape, empower women and girls and end impunity for these atrocious crimes," said Ms. Veneman.

Read more.

>>Zimbabwe - Yesterday the high court of Zimbabwe dismissed the opposition's appeal for an immediate release of long-delayed results of the presidential election held late last month. In response, the Movement for Democratic Change called for a nationwide strike today, which is also when the high court is set to rule on the opposition's objection to a government recount of votes controlling 23 seats in parliament.

>>Iraq - Richard Butler, the CBS photographer who was kidnapped two months ago in Iraq, was rescued yesterday in Basra in a raid by Iraqi soldiers. Moqtada al-Sadr claims to have negotiated his release. Iraqi reports of the incident are somewhat contradictory -- one source claiming he was stumbled upon and another confirming that they acted on a tip. Bilal Hussein, an AP photographer who has been held by American forces for two years on suspicion of aiding insurgents, was also released yesterday.

>>Italy - Silvio Berlusconi's center-right alliance won a resounding victory in parliamentary elections, according to results released yesterday. Berlusconi will become prime minister again after two years in opposition. Italy's failing economy appears to have been the decisive factor in the election. Berlusconi owes his majority to an alliance with the right-wing Northern League that favors a federalist system and that brought down his first government in 1994. However, many small parties faired poorly in this election (the Communist Party, for the first time ever, didn't claim a single seat), which bodes well for the stability of the government. This is Italy's 62nd government since World War II.

• In the Wake of Food Riots, A UN Police Officer Killed in Haiti
• Elevating Adolescent Girls on the Global Agenda
• UN Plaza: Rape in the Congo